Background

Australia is home to the most diverse, species rich and most endemic macroflora in the world, however anthropogenic increases in greenhouse gas emissions are already having profound effects on coastal ecosystems such as changes to organismal physiology, distribution and ecosystem functioning.  Along with the predicted increase of ocean temperatures of 1.4- 5.8 ºC, an increase in the frequency and intensity of extreme climate events such as heat waves are also expected by the end of this century.  Rocky intertidal ecosystems have been suggested to be one of the first ecosystems that global warming will affect due to steep temperature gradients, limited habitat space and organisms already living close to their physiological limits.  Foundation species such as the macroalgae, Hormosira banksii, are important in these ecosystems due to facilitating biodiversity by providing a 3 dimensional structure for resources, shelter and food.  If future populations are to persist in global warming, they must possess the intrinsic capacity to adapt.

Research Interests

I’m interested in how increasing temperatures will affect populations of marine macroalgae, not only through direct effects on physiology, but also how underlying genetic factors such as genetic variation and phenotypic plasticity, and transgenerational effects play important roles in adaptation to future warming.  My research also investigates whether physiological and genetic diversity in thermal tolerance changes both on a local scale (vertical shore) and regional (along a latitudinal gradient) in both adult populations and early life-history forms of macroalgae.  It will determine whether warm-adapted edge populations living closer to the equator will be more susceptible to the effects of future warming compared to temperate populations.  Currently we have little understanding of how genetic structure and diversity of macroalgal populations interacts with physiological and ecological factors in determining their resilience.